


Everything I Wanted (I had a dream)

by burdened_with_glorious_hunters



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: (author is not American please forgive me for any mistakes), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Feels, Bad Decisions, Believer Ryan Bergara, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Buzzfeed Unsolved Supernatural, Choose Your Own Ending, Drinking, Experimental Style, Horror, Introspection, Mild Gore, Minor Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej, More friendship than shippy, Multi, Native American/First Nations Legends & Lore, Non-Linear Narrative, Past Ryan Bergara/Marielle Scott - Freeform, Psychological Horror, Ryan Bergara Being an Idiot, Ryan Bergara Centric, Ryan Bergara Swears, Ryan's a bit bitter at the world, Ryan-centric, Skinwalker, Skinwalker Shane, Skinwalker!Shane, Supernatural Elements, Swearing, Two Endings, Wendigo, poor Ryan thinks he's going insane
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:34:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21689185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burdened_with_glorious_hunters/pseuds/burdened_with_glorious_hunters
Summary: There’s whispers coming from the forest, the sounds ensuing as soon as the clock strikes twelve. It’s these noises that lure Ryan Bergara into the forest.Footage recovered by detectives at the abandoned cabin which Ryan had inhabited before his disappearance is the only thing that can clue them into how and why he’s vanished in the first place. The footage shows a figure lingering at the tree line and shows Ryan Bergara staring at it with his back to the camera.  In the next frame the figure is gone and Ryan is walking into the thickets- never to be seen again.'Ryan Bergara missing after weekend away' the headlines read,  hysteria exploding online as theories ran rampant over the host of Unsolved going missing. Official statements released in the coming days as police and detectives review security footage of his final days at the lone cabin.Although no matter how they re-wind it, Ryan doesn’t come back out the forest.That is until he does...
Relationships: Past Ryan Bergara/Marielle Scott, Ryan Bergara & Shane Madej
Comments: 4
Kudos: 38





	1. Prologue - Friday 13th December

_There’s a sudden hush that falls over the police and detectives still lingering at the cabin as one of their own speaks up abruptly. “what’s that?”_

_Stumbling out of the tree-line, a figure approaches them. Their gait is stilted, uneven as they stumble on the rough terrain. As the figure comes closer the officers rise from their posts in muted disbelief._

_Ryan Bergara’s eyes are haunted nervously darting around the environment around him in unease. Although, for a man who seems to have risen from the dead he doesn’t physically look that bad. Perhaps the scars he carried ran below the surface? It seemed that only time would tell._

_“What day is it?” Is the first question that comes out of Ryan’s mouth, the first thing anyone had heard from him in a little less than a week. His brown eyes flickering between the array of officers who stood flabbergasted around him._

_“Friday… the 13th” A woman responds at last and her response seems to be enough to snap her other co-workers out of their stupor._

_The chief in charge (who one would describe as a burly older man) is the next to turns to Ryan. His movement is slow as if he were approaching a wounded animal and not a man miraculously returning alive from the forest. “what happened to you, son?” He questions gruffly, his words the same thing on everyone’s mind._

_It is here that Ryan’s attention slides to meet the chiefs gaze. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you” he replies, tone flat as he meets the chief head-on._

_The chief crossed his arms over his chest, staring down at Ryan indignantly. “Really? We might surprise you”_

_Ryan laughs, the noise high pitched with a hysterical edge. “Maybe or perhaps you’d think I’ve gone mad”_

_Seeing no way to convince the smaller man with coaching words, the chief switches tactics. “Why don’t you tell us anyway? Even if we don’t believe you, at least it gets your statement out of the way”_

_“Fine” Ryan sighs in defeat, settling himself down in the closest chair before his legs buckle out from beneath him. “It hadn’t began the afternoon of the day I arrived at the cabin… definitely not 6th of December I’m sure of it. If I remember correctly it was not until the 9th, that Monday that I went into the forest.” Pausing he looks up to find the officers leaning onto his every word, their attentive gaze solely on him. “Although, I will admit that I did begin to notice something amiss the very afternoon I arrived there…”_


	2. Friday 6th December

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the first day of Ryan's weekend away at the cabin

Friday 6th December 

Steven Lim, Andrew Ilnyckyj and other Buzzfeed staff had urged Ryan to take a weekend off after the sixth successful season of Unsolved. It had come up during the end of year work party, after he’d had one too many rum and cokes that made Ryan’s attention to what his fellow employees said to him hazy at the edges. The message was clear though, the good mood the alcohol had put him in fizzing at the way Steven had raised a brow at him. “You work yourself to the grave, Bergara, why don’t you live a little? Go out and explore a little instead of holding up in your office all day” 

’ _You need a life outside, Unsolved_ ’ is the undercurrent to Steven’s words- at least, that’s how Ryan’s alcohol soaked brain took it. 

He’d thrown the blissful mask back up with a laugh of agreement, clasping the other on the back with a slurred comment something along the lines of; “Yeah, a weekend away would do me good. Thanks for the idea” blah-blah-blah- It didn’t matter. A Weekend away wouldn’t do him shit. 

He took a swig of his drink as he watched his fellow employers dance with one another, pointedly ignoring the pitiful glances sent his way every-time couples cozied up with one another. 

He’d always been alone… being the sole host of Unsolved hadn’t even phased him. Unsolved was just as popular if not more popular than the Try Guys had been. His brain-child was a hit! people loved it, hell, they bloody well loved _him_. He didn’t need a co-worker to make it work, it worked fine as it does. 

If receiving pity for not having a co-worker didn’t sway him to bend under their words to hire another host, then his co-workers needed to get in their heads that it wasn’t going to sway him in other aspects of his life either- they particularly needed to lay off trying to set him up with someone romantically. Didn’t they see it? He didn’t need someone hanging off his arm, didn’t need someone to warm his bed during the winter nights. He was fine, it was fine that he was alone, so why can’t they just leave him be?. 

That night when he’d returned home with no-one on his arm the rum in his veins had made him even more cynical. Scouring the internet he’d booked a oneway flight to somewhere remote and rented out a cabin in the woodlands North of the continent. “That’ll appease them” he’d spoke aloud in the silence of his bed-room a bitter edge to his slurred words. The soft blue light of his laptop had been the backdrop to his words as he’d soon passed out with the confirmation email displayed on the screen. 

The next morning he’d awoken to find his head pounding, a bitter taste in his mouth in the wake of his drinking the night before. The shades pulled low to dim the light from outside was how the backdrop as Ryan called his mother in order to detail his impromptu trip. 

He didn’t have to see her face to know she was disappointed at his lack of a companion. “Is there anyone you’d like to take? Maybe a nice girl… or boy, I don’t know Ryan” Her sigh is distorted by static through the sound of the speaker. “Just at least consider taking someone with you out there, it’s not safe to be stuck there by yourself” 

“I will” He’d replied, more as an effort to sooth her than any real confirmation. After-all, there wasn’t really anyone who he could see himself bunking with, particularly someone who he could be stuck with in a cabin isolated from society. Maybe he’d have invited Marielle Scott but that ship had sailed months ago. Probably for the best, he wouldn’t have been good enough for her anyway, not with how cynical he’d grown to become. 

Anyway, that’s how he’d found himself here parked before the rustic cabin with only his suitcase as his company. Sighing he closes the boot to his rent-car, the metallic thud echoing faintly as he turns his attention to the cabin which would be his humble abode for the next few days. 

It was a standard wooden log-cabin with a triangular slanted roof which held a couple foot worth of snow. Pointed icicles hung from the wooden rafters, dropping before the horizontal wooden planks that made up the exterior of the cabin. Overall it was cozy, a rustic feel juxtaposed with wide modern glass windows which Ryan could just see pocking from the side of the cabin. 

Not bothering to extend the handle of the suitcase, he switched tactics to lug the case forwards as Ryan didn’t feel the wheels would move well in the centimetres of snow that dusted the forest floor. With the rent-car’s indicators flashing in farewell as he locked the vehicle Ryan made his way towards the bulky door nestled between the wooden boards of the exterior. The cabin was single story here, hiding the fact the back half of the cabin was resting on a downwards sloop which would soon reveal itself when he’d enter the cabin properly. 

Without much fussing Ryan had unlocked the front door, only a faint upheaval of snow falling into the place as he swung the door open. Dumping the suitcase with a dull thud off of wooden boards, Ryan turns to close the door behind him. The slide lock glints as he moves to bolt it shut, turning his eye without a thought to fumble for the light switch. The cabin ran on a small generator, which helped power the electricity as well as power the hot water system that was dearly needed in this climate. Ryan was nothing short of relieved when lights came on without a hitch, shoulders sagging in consolation of not having any issues arise. 

The lights had illuminated the cabin further, revealing the cabin further. Dumping his coat on the rack near the door Ryan re-collected his suitcase as he made his way further into the cabin. A room soon came into his sights and Ryan gratefully moved to dump his bags there, deeming an exploration of the interior a priority for the moment. 

Slowly he walks his way across wooden floors, the faint creak the only noise as he makes his way into the open plan of the cabin. He comes into an area with a small kitchen, the southern end of the house full of wide Bauhaus styled windows. It’s glass panels from ceiling to floor. It allows the light of the forest to highlight the cabin’s interior, but also allows the scenic views of the woodland around him to be on show. 

Walking towards the open-glass panel of the small kitchen, Ryan turns his attention outwards to the forest before him. The trees are huge, towering pillars of wood and greenery which extents so high as if they were trying to touch the azure sky above. 

A bird calls in the distance, making Ryan ponder if he’d see some wildlife from the confines of the cabin. With his attention turned towards the bird that lands nearby, it is by pure chance that Ryan notes something is hanging from the branch the bird was perched on. 

A dream-catcher sways faintly in the breeze, made of a mixture of twine and sticks about 30cm in diameter. A mixture of bird feathers drop from the criss-crossed twine, hanging freely below the circle of the dream-catcher. It’s not incredibly high up on the tree, maybe two meters above ground level which hangs off a lone tree just before tree-line thickens out.

It’s an strange sight but perhaps a native who worked for the reserve placed it there? Either way, it fills Ryan with a mixture of confusion and intrigue. Back home, Ryan had a lone dream-catcher hanging from the ceiling near his bed and it worked, he rarely remembered the dreams he had and if he did they were always pleasant ones. He’d been plagued by bad-dreams and nightmares when he was younger and his mother had bought him a simple dream-catcher in a bid to lessen the dreams haunting him. To his shock it had worked and as a result the habit of keeping a dream-catcher by his bed followed him into his adult years. 

Shaking himself from his reminiscing, Ryan moves towards the living area of the cabin. A stone fire-place rests in the space between a tv and a plush lounge, warm earthy tones giving the area in an inviting mood even without the flames of the fire to emphasise it. 

There’s a neat stack of logs below the fireplace, an iron poker resting against the pile of kindle-wood. With the snow covered landscape outside it doesn’t take much thought for Ryan to decide to get the fire going. It’ll take it’s time to warm up, so Ryan decided to deal with his abandoned suitcase. Retreating from the golden glow of the fireplace, Ryan made his way back to the cabin’s bedroom. 

Hefting the suitcase onto the bed, Ryan unpacked the various clothes he’d packed for the weekend. It mainly consisted of thick winter jackets and other warm clothes. He’d thrown in his yellow _Lakers_ jumper in as bedclothes just because, plus, it wasn’t like everyone didn’t already know he was a hardcore fan (not that anyone would be seeing him here anyway). 

Shaking his head to rid himself of his current train of thought, Ryan tossed the jumper onto the bed, turning an eye over his suitcase only to pause as he notes something at the bottom of the bag. There’s a bottle of whiskey in the bottom of his suitcase, the alcohol left there from his last trip outer state. It makes his lips curl upwards in dry amusement as he holds it up to get a better look at it. The labels slightly worn off and it makes him ponder just why he’d left it in there in the first place. Until he remembers that his last trip had been with Marielle Scott, in hopes that going on a trip together would salvage the way their relationship had begun to splinter. 

He leaves the empty suitcase where it is with the thought, with his clothes hung up and unpacked there’s no reason for him to linger any longer in there. Walking back through the wooden hallway, Ryan follows towards the faint orange glow beckoning him from the living room. 

The fire crackles before him, tendrils of flames attempting to escape the confines of the fireplace with no avail. The bottle is still in his hands, liquid turned a light amber in the light as Ryan’s gaze flickers down thoughtfully at it. 

“How about a glass?” He muses aloud, Marielle’s fond smile turned his way playing in his minds-eye before it crumbles and leaves him with nothing. He tries to ignore the way the memory makes his eyes sting, banishing those feelings he’d buried long ago. “For old times sake” he mutters turning to walk towards the small kitchen. 

He opens the various cupboards until he finds a crystal glass suited for his plans. It doesn’t take long as moves to pour a generous amount of whiskey into the glass. 

As he raises the glass to his lips, Ryan takes a moment to look outwards towards the woodland outside the vast glass window. It’s dark now, the trees obscured by the darkness that Ryan can’t determine where the tree-line even begins. 

Sighing Ryan watched the darkness outside with detached feelings as he finishes off the glass he’d poured. Turning on his heel, he trudges his way towards the bedroom wanting nothing more than to sleep his days away. He doesn’t even bother to change as he throws himself under the plush covers. He’s asleep the moment his head hits the pillow, the past receding as he falls into a dreamless sleep. 

“ _Wake up_ ” A voice whispers, the chime of a grandfather mixing into the sound of the words right into his ear which rouses Ryan from his sleep. 

Blearily Ryan throws an arm across his face as if he could block out the words, turning drowsily to see the stark red 12:00am of the digital alarm clock reflected back at him. 

Huffing a sigh, Ryan turns over, closing his eyes in an attempt to sink back into sleep. Not so soon does the falling sensation of sleep begins to overcome him- “ _Wake up_ ” comes the whisper yet again into his ear and this time his brown eyes widen in a horrific dawning clarity. 

It sounds like a young girl, that’s the only thing Ryan’s waking mind comprehends as he lays still under the sheets. There’s no way it was possible, it was like she had entered through the back door and came into his room only to whisper right into his ear. 

“you’re awake?” The whisper questions, bell-like laughter turning Ryan’s blood to ice as he freezes not daring to look to the side to confirm what’s happening. “I hope so” comes the amused whisper before the sound moved backwards like the girl had stepped away from him. 

The sound retreating makes him turn his head, only to find he suddenly can’t turn his head even if he wanted to. He’s quit literally frozen, his muscles leaden in the cocoon of his covers. 

“it’s fun!” The words wash over him, far away like the little girl is walking around the cabin. “It’s fun when they play with me” 

There’s no sound of footstep on the wooden floors, it’s eerily silent and it only causes horror to surge in his chest at the unnaturalness of the whole scenario. He can’t determine how close she is, not unless she speaks and the uncertainty of it all unnerves him. 

There’s a sound like a sigh just outside the door-frame of his room. “Do you want to play with me?” The girl’s voice carries from her position in the open-door of his room. 

‘ _No! I don’t! Just go away!_ ’ His mind screams. He wants nothing more than to yell at her until his voice is hoarse, tell her to leave but he can’t. He’s stuck staring on his side into the darkness the opposite side from the red glow of the clock. 

“Play with me Ryan?” The girl questions but her voice doesn’t carry any closer. “Meet me at the trees… I think you know where I’m talking about” 

A lone image of the tree-line beyond the dream-catcher flashes in his mind. The item swaying in the wind in the direction towards the thicket of trees where the tree-line began to thicken out. 

“That’s it!” Comes her excited exclamation. “It’s our meeting place, okay?” An echoing giggle follows her words, the sound growing more and more distant before the sound of a door slamming leaves him in silence. 

The slam makes him jolt, moment coming back to his limbs at the sound. 

“Fucking hell” Ryan swore breathlessly, hands shaking as he blindly reached out to switch the lamp by his bedside on. Eyes darting towards the door to his bed-room, the lamp finally chases away the darkness of his room. “What was that?” 

His mind wars with itself, on once hand he wants to stay where he is but on the flip side he also wants to move out the room and investigate just _what_ the fuck just happened. 

His bare feet hit the floors beneath him before he can think more about it, timidly making his way through the cabin. He comes to a halt before the glass-backdoor, a hand raised to run over the lock there. It’s unlocked. The knowledge makes him shudder, the action having nothing to do with the winter chill. 

He had locked the front door he was sure of it but it seemed that his dumb ass didn’t bother to lock the back-door as well. He blames his nostalgic thoughts for that. 

He moves it to lock, eyes turned towards the direction of the thickets the little girl had told him to meet her. He can’t see anything, it was too dark for that and there was no way in hell he was going to turn the spot-lights on to check if she was waiting for him after that scenario. 

Instead, Ryan made his way around the cabin and made sure every door and window was locked. Call him paranoid but he wasn’t taking anymore chances after what had happened. This time when he laid back down in bed, he didn’t fall asleep the moment he laid down… he was dreadfully awake for hours. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whew, here we go :O sorry if it's messy I might of missed some mistakes while proof-reading
> 
> I hope your enjoying this fic so far, there's more to come... so until next time!


	3. Saturday 7th December

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things only seems only to get more crazy for Ryan... even more so when he finally sees the creature face to face.

Saturday 7th December 

Ryan’s sleep was fitful, the terror of hearing the little girls whispers again kept his mind wide awake as anxiety seized his heart. So, it was no surprise that he had awoken from his broken sleep to witness the darkness around him to be illuminated by the orange glow of the sunrise. 

Heaving a sigh, Ryan reached across to switch the lamp off. It wouldn’t help him now, not with the sun’s light illuminating the cabin better than the lamp could at this hour in the morning. 

Shrugging on his _Lakers_ jumper over his clothes from the day before, Ryan trudged his way down the hallway towards the open expanse of the kitchen and living area. The rough hardwood floors a familiar sensation underfoot as he enters the bright open-plan before him. 

He can’t find it within him to look towards the back-door, the events of last night too fresh on his mind. So he pointedly ignores looking out the window as he makes himself a bowl of cereal. 

He all but falls into the lounge, the fireplace fizzled out with the wood turned to charcoal. He’d forgotten to smother out the flames the night before, too caught up in his own thoughts and whiskey to have done so. The sight makes his lips turndown at the edges, so in order to forget it and the feelings it reminds him off, Ryan digs into the cereal he’d prepared while turning on the tv to the first sports channel he came across. 

He can’t really focus on the game playing before him, his thoughts turned towards how something was entirely wrong about this place. The feeling only grows as the television changes before him. The bowl in his hands slides out of his grip, porcelain smashing as it hits the wooden floor at his feet. 

The television’s screen had become overrun with static, a grainy image on the screen before him. Blood oozes from a vicious wound marring the figures face- or should he say _wounds_. It’s a person’s face with three claw-like lines running across the expanse of Ivory skin. Despite their head turned in a side profile, their blood-shot eyes are turned to stare directly at him. “Ryan” comes the gurgling words from the figure on-screen, the words making blood and residue trickle down their mouth and down their neck. “Why haven’t you come to the woods?” Blood overflows as they grin, staining their teeth a horrific scarlet as they hack up whatever sinew is caught in their throat in a gory display that Ryan can’t tear his gaze away from.

He can’t scream, the sound is caught in his own throat at the image before him. The figure continues to hack on screen, coughing and wheezing around the blood they are retching on. Then suddenly the image flickers and it’s gone, replaced with the sports channel Ryan had kept it on as if nothing had happened. 

His hands are unsteady as he stands but Ryan minds the mess splayed before him, shards of porcelain and milk mixing stark against the dark wooden flooring. Stepping over it, Ryan stumbled unsteadily towards the kitchen, wrenching the tap on forcefully as reaches downwards to soak his face under the spray of water impatiently. Squeezing his eyes shut he tries to smoother the nauseous feeling nearly overwhelming him.He pauses for a moment as the water runs over him as if it could remove the unsettling images from his mind. 

Water cascades down his face as he raised his head, his hands griping the counter tightly after switching off the water. Had he gone insane? Or had he found himself affected by some kind of gas leak which made horrendous hallucinations flash before his eyes. Staring forwards towards the woods before him Ryan’s thoughts spiral like water whirling down a drain. Although his thoughts finally come back to clarity as it dawns on him that _something_ **_is_** lingering just at the border of the tree-line. 

Now, Ryan would believe that most people in his situation would be unnerved at the sight of a person when you are meant to be alone in the middle of nowhere. Now, a person who had experiences the shit that Ryan had these past 24 hours Ryan would believe that this sight would be enough for anyone to have a mental breakdown. Instead of crumbling into a heap on the floor, Ryan’s theorist mind goes running at the sight for he’d watched and listened to too many true crime cases that his mind automatically comes to the conclusion that the figure must be a murderer. 

Fighting to squash down his frenzied thoughts, Ryan squints at the sight in an attempt to assess the figure at the safe distance of his cabin’s kitchen window. There’s something slightly off about the figure’s limbs, the length too long as if the figure had dislocated their shoulders and the limb was hanging limp by it’s side. 

The sight makes him question that perhaps instead of an murderer Ryan was actually looking at a victim, maybe someone fleeing from an axe wielding maniac or perhaps just an unfortunate soul who’d become caught up in an animal attack of gotten injured on a hazardous trail? 

There’s no way to tell, not this far away at least. The notion of moving closer makes him shudder in disagreement. Turning away, Ryan moves further into the cabin. With shaking hands he makes sure that the locks on the various doors and windows are locked shut, as if it would prevent that thing lurking outside from getting in. It was more of a soothing action than anything, allowing Ryan to feel as if he had leverage over the figure below. 

“it’s our meeting place, Okay?” The little girls words from the night before come back to him as pointedly keeps his gaze from the kitchen window. 

Ryan has a healthy respect for the supernatural, he’s always been fearful for things he doesn’t fully understand. So despite curiosity he knows he shouldn’t go out there, he shouldn’t go into the forest despite the creatures insistence. He knows he’ll have to eventually, the mind-games the creature is playing is evident of that.

Although for now, Ryan was going to go to bed and pretend that none of this was happening and that his life wasn’t so fucked up. 

////

That night the whispers came once more just as the chiming of twelve began. 

Against his better judgement Ryan came to a pause before the glass back-door. The open glass allowed him to look out easily at the greenery around him but on the downside it also allowed whatever was out there to _look in_ just as clearly at him. 

“Ryan” Comes a whisper on the wind and causes Ryan’s thoughts to crash to a halt. “Ryan” the sound of Steven Lims voice carries. “Did a weekend away help?” 

A hysterical laugh rips from Ryan’s lips at the sound of his co-workers voices out in the woods. No, a weekend away fucking didn’t, it seemed it had made him lose his mind instead. 

“You work too much” Andrew Ilnyckyj’s voice cuts above Steven’s continued rambling. “A vacation would be good for you” 

Hands reaching to grip raven coloured hair, Ryan shakes his head as if he could shake the words free. “No it wouldn’t! It fucking wouldn’t!” The words explode from him in frustration. “Nothing can help me you fucking bastards!” The last note of his words echoes, a few birds taking flight as his words ring out into forest night. 

His hands hold onto the wooden frame of the glass-door, knuckles almost white with the force of it. It’s silent, the whispering voices of his co-workers gone and replaced with deafening silence. He almost wishes that the whispers would start back up, if only to banish the quiet that’s overtaken the woodland around him. It makes him think, ponder just what went wrong with his life and he doesn’t want it, doesn’t want to have a break-down alone in the middle of the woods with no-one to pull him back out of one. 

Before he can think to much about it, the crisp chill of winter air hits him as he began to spiral his way down the stairs of the cabin. He has to face this thing, this creature that’s haunting him from the shadows. He has to face it before it’s whispering goading breaks him, leaving him broken in a way he couldn’t even begin to patch himself back together if he tried. 

He can’t see anything before him, whether that be the figure he’d seen in the tree-line earlier or something else entirely. It was too dark for that but there’s no doubt it’s lingering somewhere in the undergrowth, biding it’s time until it reveals itself to him. It’s eerily silent the moment his foot touches the snowy ground of the forest as he finally meets the end of the cabin’s stairs. Goose-bumps rise on his skin but it has nothing to do with the chill of the night air. 

His feet crunch on the freshly laid snow as he walks cautiously slowly. He’s still in the cleared grounds of the cabin, he knows this even without being able to see clearly. He knows this due to the lack of foliage inhibiting his path. 

It’s not that much longer that his hands meet the rough bark of a tree, the scrape of them against his palms a stark reminder of just what he’s doing. 

“i’m here” Ryan says quietly into the stillness of the forest. “Did you not what me here?” 

The rustling of undergrowth makes him turn but he can’t see much as he turns blindly to stare into the void like darkness around him. He’s aware of a low growling, the sound deep and guttural which makes him freeze on the spot. 

It’s like his eyes finally adjust to the darkness as it steps out from the white landscape around him. It’s deadly beautiful is all that Ryan can comprehend at the sight of something so otherworldly make it’s way leisurely towards him. It’s jaw unhinges unnaturally saliva dripping from ivory razor-sharp teeth. There’s blood remaining near it’s gums pooling around it’s lips in a gory concoction that makes Ryan’s blood turn to ice. 

Being this close Ryan can now see that behind the holes of the wolf skull there are scarlet red eyes staring back at him. Pure bloodlust reflecting back at the smaller man as he gazes in muted horror at the being before him. 

“Ryan” It’s clawed hands fall in a bruising grip on Ryan’s shoulders, the smaller man unable to shake off the vice-grip even if he had the mind to do so. He’s pinned in place only able to stare into those hypnotic red eyes as it’s head tilts to hover it’s jaws strategically before Ryan with deadly intent. 

“Ryan” It repeats in eery whisper, in a soothing voice that does not belong to the monstrosity before him. “I… waited… for… you” 

The stunted response would be amusing to Ryan in any other context, reminding him vividly of the Spirit Box when ghosts would attempt to communicate with him. But now the comparison was sour, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth as he sees the creature loom before him. Had he wasted his years? So absorbed in creating that show from the ground up that he’d missed out on the simpler things in life. Like going out drinking with friends on a celebratory outing or kissing someone in the spur of the moment just because you can’t let them leave without them knowing how much you enjoyed your time with them?. He had, hadn’t he? Wasted it all and now he was going to die in this fucking cursed woodland by something supernatural his show had never been able to capture. 

“Please” The words tear from him suddenly, his mind feeling so far detached from the situation before him. “Please” He begs pathetically, voice breaking as he sucks in a breath through his tears. “Don’t kill me I have so much to live for!” 

The creature gazes at him and Ryan feels as if his soul is laid bare before it, feeling as if judgement day had come early. He can’t focus on looking anywhere but those red eyes, it’s the only visual as his thoughts spiral out of control in a disastrous desperation achievable only from a man doomed to die. ’ _Lies… lies, what else do you have back home waiting for you?_ ’ A voice hisses cruelly in his mind as he stared brokenly at the monster before him. ‘Y _our only legacy is Unsolved, nothing more, nothing less_ ’ 

Wasn’t that the kicker? He was far from Unsolved here, there was no film crew to save him. He didn’t have a co-worker, no-one fit the bill perfectly enough to do it so it was just Ryan. He liked to think his co-host was a skeptic, perhaps a little eclectic in their views. It doesn’t matter, there was no co-host here to save him, no crew members, no one- Ryan was dreadfully _alone_. It was no surprise to him for it seemed that he’d always been destined to be alone. 

The Skin-walker is poised frozen before him, it’s jaw hanging wide open. There’s an unnamed emotion reflected back at him in those ruby eyes. There’s no blood-lust in them now, just some sentiment like pitiful sympathy that leaves Ryan feel raw in a way he hadn’t felt in years. 

It’s jaws clamp shut abruptly, razor teeth hidden once more as it pauses before him. It’s hands retracted as if it had been burned from the touch. It’s lips curl back in something one would describe as a grimace. “Leave… now” The skin-walker orders. “Before I change my mind” 

Like waking from a trance Ryan jerks himself backwards. Almost tripping on the undergrowth as he all but scrambles from the creature. In a later time he’d question why it’s words had grown more joined at the end of it’s order but for now Ryan’s only thought is to _survive_. 

The sound of his feet hitting the snowy ground beneath him in a dull thud is the only thing he can hear in the still of the forest around him. 

His breath fogs out with every exhale, barely visible in the dark forest around him as he makes a bee-line for the safely of his cabin. 

Slamming the door shut behind him, Ryan leans his weight against the door as if the centimetre or two of wood would protect him from the evil that awaited him out there. Legs shaking he all but collapses against it as the pent-up adrenaline begins wears off, all the buried fear and hysteria of his situation crashing over him with the force of a stormy sea. He’s gasping for breath with the force of his sobs, shoulders shaking as he lets himself cry in the darkness of the cabin. 

He should be dead. It’s the only tangible thought that stands out behind the chorus of ‘ _oh fuck_ ’ that rattles loudly in his head. For some reason whether divine intervention or pure luck that creature had spared him. “Why?” He questions aloud, voice raw in the silence of his cabin. “why didn’t it kill me?” 

It had intended too that much was clear. It wouldn’t have took all that work to lure him out there only too bail on killing him last minute. It had gotten him in it’s grasp, eyes glinting in triumph as it took it’s time to savour the moment. Then, it had seen something in his expression and hesitated. 

When Ryan’s sobs recede and he’s sitting in the dark with his back propped up against the door he’d all but collapsed against Ryan felt colder than he had felt in a long time. He’s shaking, from the shock and from the chill that’s settled into his bones. It rouses him from his stupor, and like a new-born faun he raises himself from the wooden floor shakily, tentative, as he makes his way slowly towards the bathroom. 

Shredding the snow-damp clothes from his figure, Ryan steps under the spray of water. Trying to warm himself up and forget just how close to death he had truly been. He can’t keep his eyes closed for long, the memory of scarlet eyes and ivory teeth too fresh in his mind to allow him to be vulnerable just yet. 

He’s not sure how long he stands there under the warmth of the water just staring unseeing at the white tiles of the shower wall. 

Mechanically he removes himself from the shower, dressing himself in the closest warm clothes as he moves to sink into the plush bed. Exhaustion gnaws at him but as he lays in the dark of the cabin with the faint sounds of patrolling footsteps on the other-side of the cabin’s wooden walls, Ryan cant seem to allow himself to sink blissfully into sleep.


	4. Sunday 8th December

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The forests outside is harsh and unforgiving… Ryan learns that so is life after the possible key to his salvation is violently ripped from his grasp. 

Sunday 8th December 

That morning Ryan walked exhaustedly towards the open glass panel of the cabin’s kitchen and gazed tentatively out into the thicket of trees the creature seemed to always stand in. 

At this distance, he can just see the skeletal way it’s skin is stretched over it’s bones. What makes his heart race in his chest though is that he can clearly see a wolf skull situated over the figure’s face. Was it a mask? Ryan wondered as his eyes roamed over it’s features. He had gotten close to it last night but his terror for the supernatural hadn’t really made him take notice of the finer details of the creature.

It raised a hand, a bony claw-like finger outstretched to point out into the wilderness away from the cabin. 

“that fucker” Ryan swore, wide-eyed as he watched the creature step back and disappear into the tree-line. 

He re-adjusts his flannel shirt wondering if the area had dropped a few degrees as he lingers in the kitchen, eyes cast towards the undergrowth with furrowed brow. 

“Help!” A call filters distorted on the wind almost minutes after the creatures disappearance. 

The sound surprises him, so spine rigid Ryan snaps to attention. 

“Help me!”

On instinct he rushed towards the sound, although as his thoughts settle with realistic questioning, his hands lingered on the wooden frame as he paused at the glass back-door. How does he know it isn’t that thing out there tricking him? 

“Please, please help me! Im lost a-and there’s something out here with me” 

Gnawing on his lower lip, Ryan ponders the distorted words carried towards his cabin. If someone was actually out there and needed his help then all this standing around debating could be putting their life in more danger. On the flip side though, going out to this person could but him in danger from whatever had been haunting him these past days. 

Before he thinks too hard about the rational thing to do, he turns on his heel towards the front of the cabin. His winter-coat hangs off a brass hook mounted on the wall by the front entrance, his snow-boots resting below the jacket on the floor. Pausing before it momentarily, Ryan reaches out and pulls the article of clothes on, kneeling down to lace up his boots as well. 

Once done he turns to return towards the glass-door that led down to the woods at the rear of the cabin. Ryan shrugs his jacket tighter around him as he begins to descend down the stairs of the cabin. The crunch of freshly dropped snow sounds beneath his boots as he cautiously makes his way towards the thicket of trees on the outskirts of his cabin. 

Even with the heavy jacket on there’s an icy chill to the air as he walks. His gaze gets caught on the dream-catcher as he passes which sways faintly from a snow covered branch. The snow-flakes caught on it’s twine glitters in the early morning sun. 

There had been a downfall of snow during the night, that much is obvious as Ryan treks his way through the snowy forest. The landscape around him is almost indistinguishable with the way snow had engulfed the region with white. It makes it harder for him to move, inhibiting him as he struggles to find a potential path forwards. 

A bird calls overhead, the only sound other than Ryan’s own movement in the woodland. Had it always been so quiet? Or had the conditions of winter made the usual animals hide away in comfort away from the harsh bite of snow. The thought makes Ryan nostalgic for old times, for moments by the fire and laughing merrily with loved ones. 

He can almost feel it, the heat of flames licking at his skin as he sits by the fireplace. He’s greeted with the memory of Marielle’s face, the fondness of her smile and the way her eyes sparkled from the orange hue of the fire. Her side is pressed against his to make room on the plush couch that his loved ones had once occupied. Although, his family had left them alone moments ago but neither had made the indication to move. He remembers the warmth he felt at the moment, the content he felt to be alone with her as they basked in one another’s company before the soothing crackling of the fireplace. 

“Love hurts” he can’t help but mutter aloud as he comes back to his surroundings. Its a harsh juxtaposition between this memory and his current predicament. Gone is the fire, the warmth, the company…. All that is left is the chill and the isolation of the woodland. “But nothing hurts when I’m alone”

There’s an echo of her laugh that rings vibrantly, it makes his heart ache in his chest. He must have imagined it, the sound was subdued as if smoothed or subdued in some way. It’s not real- not _her_. Once she was all Ryan had ever wanted, now though, he’s left in the wake of her absence. 

He doesn’t know what to do with this, how to feel about this shift in his life. It’s like he’s at a crossroads, the paths forking out before him. The skin-walker had advertently shown him this, by finding him, letting him live… it was clarity that doused on him like ice cold water in that moment. For the first time since she’d left he’d found purpose again, found that spark of drive that had been buried long ago. The threat of death had renewed him, made him aware of the wrongs in his life so much that it was like he’d been re-born. 

So caught up in his own thoughts was Ryan that he nearly screamed when he backed into something solid. Whirling around he comes face to face with a pale man, he’s incredibly tall with shaggy brown locks which fall into his amber eyes. His cheeks and nose are red from the wind chill or perhaps mild frost-bite from wandering through the forest. 

The smaller man comes to the conclusion that it must be that, although as Ryan assesses him closer it looks more like the man had ran through the forest by the state of his dress. The stranger’s snow-jacket is torn at the shoulder and his blue jeans are damp as if he’d fallen into the wet snowy ground, scrambling his way through the melted snow as something had stalked him through the white landscape. 

He’s broken from his musing as the stranger speaks. “Thank god!” He exclaims with an Ohioan drawl to his words. “I thought I was alone out here, what’s your name?” 

Ryan can’t help but feel apprehensive, pausing hesitantly as the stranger looks at him openly. “Ryan” he reveals after a beat before switching to throw the question back. “How about you?” 

The stranger blinks, a furrow to their brow as if they found the question to be foreign to them. “Oh…” he murmurs in a tone Ryan’d describe as thoughtful. “It’s Shane” 

Mixed signals come from the stranger- _Shane_ , the openness of the other makes Ryan want to trust him but there’s an odd edge to him that makes Ryan’s skin crawl with unease. But perhaps the man’s thoughtfulness when offering his name was due to _whatever_ was roaming these woods and not because of something more sinister. Besides, Ryan’s head was too clouded with dealing with whatever was haunting him, the creature taunting him from the forest, so he can’t afford to pass up someone to help him deal with whatever entity was out there waiting for him just because he was suspicious of the new-comer. 

“How’d you end up out here?” Ryan asks, as he begins to move further into the forest away from his cabin. He didn’t want to return just yet, not until he figured out if he could trust the stranger. 

“I was hiking” Shane replies, following in Ryan’s wake. “My relatives come here every-year before Christmas Day. Although, today I’d gone out by myself to have a little introvert time” There’s a rueful upturn to his lips that Ryan caught when he glanced back at the other man. 

The terrain had grown more uneven here the undergrowth snapping under their heels with every step. “that’s fair enough” Ryan comments conversationally as he cuts a path through the least dense undergrowth. 

“Not my best idea” the taller man sighs bitterly, using a hand to brush shaggy hair from his eyes. “How about you?” He questions a clear diversion from whatever made his thoughts turn sour. “What’s got you out here?” 

Ryan can’t help the dry bark of a laugh that escapes him at the question. “God, you don’t even want to know man. It’s a fucking rabbit hole” 

Shane lets out a low whistle at his words. “Oft. That bad, huh?” 

“You don’t know the half of it” Ryan mutters under his breath. Pushing a particularly obstructive branch out the way which only adds to the dusting of snow coating the smaller man. 

“We’ve all got our demons” Shane hums as he too pushes the undergrowth out of his path. 

Ryan can’t help but look at him at the words, pausing mid-stride as he turns his attention towards him. Shane’s brow is pinched, confusion clear on his features as he too slows his stride to a stop. His hands are left to hover over the branches obscuring his path arms outstretched to keeps them in place. “what’s wrong, Bergara?” He queries. 

Thrown Ryan tries to remember if he’d revealed his last name to the other. Before he can question it further a sound breaks the silence of the forest. It’s a snap, the sound as if an animal had stepped on a twig or a branch. It’s the first sound Ryan can remember hearing in a long time, the forest seemed to have been eerily silent since he’d met Shane. 

“Shit. We need to get out of here” Shane urges, the taller man looking out into the tickets around them with clear alarm. “There’s something here with us” 

Ryan looks back at the other at the words, wondering if it was his stressed-out brain playing tricks on him with the way Shane’s eyes looked almost reddish-brown and not the amber hue Ryan swore it was. “You’ve seen it too?”

The taller man blinks, like he’d revealed something he shouldn’t have but before Shane can verbally reply the sound of a scream on the air makes both of them turn their attention away from one another. 

“We need to leave _now_ ” Ryan admonished, stepping backwards as he keeps his attention turned to the woodland the sound originated from. “Do you have a map on you? Or somewhere we could shelter” He posed the question to his companion as his eyes scanned the tree-line. At the silence, anxiety rises in his chest. “Shane?” Ryan questions timidly as he turns around slowly. 

His eyes met nothing but air, the space Shane occupied only moments ago void of the taller man. Even if he bailed there was no way a man of that size could have vanished without a trace or Ryan hearing for he was right besides the man for gods sake. 

Running a hand through snow covered black hair Ryan tried to settle his racing thoughts. “Fuck. Fuck. Where did you go?” 

A bloodcurdling howl of pain cut into the question as in reply, turning Ryan’s blood to ice. The sound wasn’t far it was terrifying close which only becomes more eery as a series of dull thumps followed the noise. Ryan stop the way his mind conjures up images of bloody snow and the sight of a mangled body of a stranger. It’s too easy to identify the dull receptive thumps as a body hitting wood, like the creature had rag-dolled the stranger’s body into the trees to incapacitate him. 

Ryan forces himself to move forwards, through the snow which came up to mid-calf with every step he took. His breath fogs as he shakily exhales, trying to stop himself from hyperventilating as he wills himself to move. He cant allow himself to break down right then and there, he cant think about how that’s most likely the stranger he’d encountered being attacked by that fucking entity who’d hunted him like he was prey. 

He’s not sure how or why Shane had ended up being caught by the creature, he had been right by Ryan’s side the whole time… or had he? Had Ryan been delirious the whole time? Had he somehow conjured the whole thing up due to the stress and lack of sleep? It was plausible, but it didn’t quite add up. 

To be honest… nothing as of late seemed to add up. 

He keeps trudging forwards, past pine trees, past snow-capped rocks and through shrubs which brush against him as he passes. The landscape around him looks the same with every step, nothing stands out and with the light dusting of snow his earlier tracks would have been covered by now. It feels like groundhog day as if he were re-living the same moment over and over as he passes foliage he swore he’d just passed minutes ago. 

“Ryan” Comes his name on the wind. 

The smaller man shoves his hands into his pockets forcefully, so he doesn’t have to see his hands shaking as he picks up his pace. The wind chill bites into his skin, the foliage in his path forcing him to bring his hands back out. Unsteadily his hands splayed outwards in an attempt to cut a path into the undergrowth as he hurried along. 

Something speaks to him, raspy and male sounding. “Ryan… Why’d you abandon him?” 

“Shut up” He all but snarls, face twisting in frustration as he nearly runs through the undergrowth of the forest blindly. 

He swears he hears something cackling in reply but he’s not sure if it was his imagination or reality as his hollow footsteps cut above the sound of the creature taunting him from a distance. 

“You can run but you can’t hide” comes the sound once more. It’s unsettlingly close, almost as if it were standing beside him and speaking directly into his ear. “I am here…always watching” 

The laugh that follows it’s words grows fainter and fainter as Ryan continues to run. It’s a clear sign that he’s moving away from the entity makes hope spark in his chest, a new found spring in his stride as the forest blurs around him a swirl of white and green. 

He wishes nothing more than to see the cabin in the distance, to pass the threshold of the tickets and lock himself inside like it was some kind of hallowed ground. 

It’s white. The only defining quality of his surroundings which makes doubts fill his head. Will he find his way? Or will frost-bite kill him before he finds the cabin? If the creature doesn’t catch him first that is. It seems that it had been a decade before Ryan found himself at the point where the trees began to thin. 

His jacket is all but coated in snow, his boots leaving damp imprints on the wooden floor of the cabin as he enters. A shiver wracking his body as he makes his way towards the living space of the cabin. Setting the fireplace ablaze Ryan lingers by it’s side as he waits for it to give off a reasonable heat. Stripped of his damp jacket and boots, Ryan allows himself to sink into the lounge by the fire. It’s reminiscent of the days earlier thoughts of the past. 

Nostalgia makes his hands itch for a drink, to drown away his memories and the emotions they dig up. It’s entirely too tempting but Ryan throws his head back onto the headrest instead, heaving a sigh as he allows his eyes to slide shut. 

He’s exhausted to the bone, there’s no doubt about that. With the fire filling the hole in him, it lulls the smaller man to a calm serenity that had been lacking over the course of his stay. Sliding from consciousness Ryan finds himself falling into a dreamless sleep which would last past midnight and into the next morning… 

It would be the first time the Skin-walkers words wouldn’t reach his ear. Although, it would foolish to think that it would last for longer than that. 


	5. Monday 9th December

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beast doesn't seem so inhuman now but it would do Ryan well to remember just what he speaks with

Monday 9th December

Light creeps through the open glass of the cabin’s living room window. It’s a sight that Ryan’s sleep addled brain takes a moment to decipher. Although it soon dawns on him… he hadn’t awoken to the sound of whispers. It makes him jolt upright, wide-eyed as he looks frantically around his room as if the creature had lurked in the sparse shadows to attack him the moment he woke. 

Rising on sleep ridden legs, Ryan side-steps his boots and coat folded out on the floor besides the fireplace. There’s a dull ache in his muscles as he rose and he stretches absently as he walks. His footsteps echo in a subdued pace as he makes his way towards the kitchen of the cabin. 

In an action that seemed to be habitual of late, Ryan cast his gaze out into the woods to see that a wolf lurks where the beast had once stood, silhouetted against the thicket of the tree-line. In any other circumstance, seeing a wild wolf so close to the cabin would have unnerved him but to Ryan in this moment, seeing an animal instead of a incomprehensible monster filled him with so much relief he could have collapsed from it. 

Only as it moves along the outskirts of the cabin’s boundary can Ryan see that it’s motley grey fur is littered with snow. Wether from moving past undergrowth or due to a fresh dusting of snow Ryan’s not quite sure which is the cause. He can’t see it’s face at this distance but it seems to be casting it’s gaze eerily towards the cabin. The relief he felt at the lack of the creature’s presence dimmed with the unsettlingly lurking of the wolf at the cabin’s border. It makes him step away from the windows to withdraw further into the cabin. 

“Maybe it’s looking for food, no doubt the cooler weather makes it more bold to move towards populated areas” Ryan muses, hands fiddling with the hem of his flannel shirt in a nervous tick. 

But it’s not populated here. Here in the cabin amongst the forests of Northern America he is currently somewhere that is the opposite of populated. If anything it is _him_ that is the intruder to this wolf’s habitat. 

His attention slides to the land-line phone hanging near the kitchen in open thought. “I can always call a ranger or something if it keeps nosing around the area” Ryan reasons aloud. 

He’s distracted after the wolfs appearance, jittery in a way he hadn’t been since the whispers had struck at midnight. It makes him wear a track into the floor-boards with the way he paces up and down the hallway of the cabin. It’s here that his eye caught the sight of a closed door. It’s unassuming naturing draws his brows together in contemplation. He edges his way towards it, hand reaching out to turn the handle. It doesn’t budge. He tries to twist it yet again more forcibly this time but the door remains shut. His gaze drops to the key-hole sitting inconspicuously in the space above the brass handle. 

It’s curiosity that overcomes Ryan, all thoughts of the wolf gone from his mind as he focuses on the mystery of the locked door. It must hold the wifi and internet browser of the cabin or perhaps other valuable technology to be locked away like this. So caught in figuring out the secrets behind the closed door was Ryan that he didn't hear the footsteps patrolling in time with his every step. 

Ryan pulls away from the mysterious door and the creature outside mirrors his movement. It’s there on the other-side of the wooden wall, head tilted with it’s ear facing Ryan direction. There’s a light dusting of snow which coats its dark fur, rests atop the skull-like features of it’s face. Clawed hand rests against the wooden planks of the cabin, nails dragging a near silent indent into the wood there. It’s unnaturally silent, even it’s footsteps are light like a predator stalking it’s prey as it’s attention is caught on the noise Ryan makes in the cabin. 

The smaller man is obvious to what’s occurring on the other side of the wooden wall. Of the danger that awaits him in the pristine landscape of the forest. All the while the creature tracks his every move. 

/////////////////////

Coming back around lunch time, the smaller man decides to wash the few dishes that rest besides the sink. It’s a mundane task filling up the sink with warm water and adding detergent to the water. The rhythm is cathartic in a way Ryan had never felt it as he works at cleaning the glassware. After scrubbing at the potential stains, he packs them in a neat pile on the draining board to dry. 

Ryan glances upwards near the end of his work only to freeze, his hands paused in the action of cleaning his plate at the sight before him. The wolf from the morning stands still, unmoved from it’s place as it seems to stare right at him. 

It’s almost every how the sight combines with noise from the distance. “Ryan” a voice calls, the sound so familiar it rocks him to the core. 

The dish falls out of his soapy hands into the sink with a clatter, the water swelling over the rim with the violent force of the fall. Ryan can’t find it in him to care, something akin to horror paralysing him in place so that he can only stare back at the wolf looking back at him from the tree-line. 

“Come… Ryan” is the eery words on the wind, he almost can’t hear it over the sound of his own blood rushing in his ears. It’s his mother’s voice no doubt about about it. There’s no questioning now that the figure he’d dealt with these past few days was something non-human, something supernatural which Ryan had only hoped to witness first-hand. It only feels hallow as he stares at the wolf- no, _thing_. 

“The woods… come to the woods” It beckons, a siren call if Ryan had ever heard one. It was a smart move to use his mother’s voice, it left him unnerved but also so, so, bitterly angry. 

He hasn’t seen his mother in so long… he’d neglected visiting her in person often after Unsolved’s popularity grew. When he and Marielle were together he had only made more and more excuses as to why he couldn’t visit. It makes him homesick in a way he hadn’t been in so long, to hear his mother’s voice call to him in person… even if it was the creature’s doing Ryan couldn’t help but follow. His guilty conscious only urged him to follow anyway. 

His hands drip with soapy water as he makes his way towards his winter jacket and snow boots left abandoned on the floor near the fireplace.He’s halfway towards the thicket of trees when it dawns on him that he’s really doing this. He’s not sure why he’s returned, why he’s seeking out the figure. 

Shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket, Ryan leans against the rough bark of a tree dotting the tree-line. In his waiting, the smaller man couldn’t help but find his attention turned towards the dream-catcher hanging above his head. It seemed that it had all turned to shit the moment he’d caught sight of the catcher. The twine and sticks had called to him, soon leading to becoming involved in parts of this twisted nightmare that was Ryan’s life of late. 

This is how Ryan finds himself yet again standing before this creature which could of killed him in the blink of an eye. The dream-catcher was the symbolic catalyst of this creatures plan, this was Ryan’s final musing as the subject of his thoughts emerged. It seems to emerge out of thin air, coming out behind thick foliage in a sea of white. 

“What are you?” Ryan questions before he thinks to much about what he’s doing.

It had never responded before, never really said much besides a few clipped words in reply to his questions. So Ryan’s surprised when the creature turns its scarlet eyes towards him. “Skin…walker” comes the whisper from it’s unmoving lips. 

Ryan can’t stop the way his eyes light up, wide-eyed as he gazes in awe at the creature before him. “A skin-walker” he repeats the words hardly audible in his shock. “Are you a witch?” Ryan asks the creature. “i’m sure thats what the native people believe you to be anyway” 

It’s eyes are vacant as it regards him. “No” comes the growling response from low in it’s throat. 

“No?” Ryan blinks owlishly at the denial. “But isn’t there the belief that Navajo witches who become skin-walkers are said to be unscrupulous and motivated by selfishness? That becoming a skin-walker is a way of punishing these selfish aims in the hopes the individual grows distraught with guilt over some sinful act they committed?” 

The skin-walker is silent at his words, shifting a fraction on it’s gangly limbs. Ryan’s immediately worried it’s going to leave, or perhaps it’s uncomfortable with all the questions being thrown it’s way. 

“Maybe being a witch isn’t a prerequisite" Ryan muses, an amused upturn to his lips despite the context of being in the presence with something supernatural. 

The skin-walker tilts it’s head faintly, the skull on it’s face glinting in the afternoon light eerily but otherwise makes no response. 

Ryan can’t help but continue to ramble at the movement of the creature before him. “I- uh, why are you here? Living in these woods I mean” 

“Cursed” It all but hisses. “Cursed to roam the lands a monster”

The smaller man feels compelled to ask it one last question, it’s something that he’d wondered the moment it said it was a Skin-walker. “Who were you? Who is the _real_ you?” 

He’s struck by the intensity of it’s stare, the way it looks at him like it doesn’t expect the words escaping Ryan. Then suddenly the monstrous being suddenly isn’t quite so bony as muscle thickens along it’s limbs. Turning his attention upwards, Ryan caught the moment the skin-walker reaches up to removes the wolf’s skull from it’s face as if ridding itself of a mask. 

A pale skinned man stands before him slightly towering over Ryan. A wolf's skin hangs across his broad shoulders, the only thing which clues Ryan in that it is still a skin-walker before him and not some average person who’d wound up lost in the forest. His eyes had changed from a rich ruby to something of a warm amber. If Ryan was honest, the creature standing before him now could’ve been someone Ryan would pass on the streets. 

The skin-walker wears a long sleeve button up, paired with a dark brown almost black dress pants. It’s casually dressy in todays standards but it reminds Ryan of something a farmer of labourer would have worn a few centuries ago. The creature looks so human before him and it makes Ryan’s head spin as he tries to comprehend the image before him. 

There’s something about the Skin-walker’s appearance that makes him pause, fragmented images of a man with frost nipped skin and shaggy brown hair comes to him. It’s the eyes which make him look twice, they look like the exact same hue of amber he’d seen when he’d met the stranger. _He’s going insane_ … it’s the thought that screams at him as he stares uncomprehending at the being before him. 

“What do I call you?” The dazed questions falls from Ryan’s lips before he can stop it, overwhelmed as he tries to keep himself from falling apart. 

The skin-walker turns it’s gaze to him now, brow furrowed faintly as if he has no idea how to reply to Ryan’s question. “My name… was Shane” it reveals after a lengthy pause. 

“Shane” Ryan repeats, testing the name out with his lips. Again images of the man he’d met the previous day flashing in his mind but he smothers the comparison before it forms to tangible- it’s something he can analyse later. “It suits you” he settles on saying in a bid to steer his thoughts away. 

“You shouldn’t be here” He says abruptly, switching conversation as he watches Ryan. “Creatures wouldn’t think twice to kill you” 

“Then why haven’t you?” Ryan retorts a defiant edge to his tone. 

The skin-walkers- _Shane’s_ nostrils flare in restrained annoyance. “Leave… now” he orders instead of fabricating a response to Ryan’s prior question. 

Lifting his head Ryan stares down the other challengingly. “I don’t think I will” 

The skin-walker is still as it looks at him, seemingly taking a moment to absorb his words. “I don’t know why I didn’t kill you earlier” Shane sighs, weary as he raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. “you’d be much less of a hassle that way” 

“What? Dead?” Ryan splutters at the skin-walkers dry humour. 

Shane grins, the action all teeth. “Precisely” 

The sight sends a shiver down Ryan’s spine which has nothing to do with the chill nipping the air. It seems to sense his unease, if the smug quirk to it’s lips is any indication to go by. 

“Do you do this often?” 

His grin is replaced by a sheer perplexed expression as Shane spares him a questioning glance. 

“Uh” Ryan scrambles for words. “threaten people that is” 

“I don’t speak to people much” Comes the Skin-walker’s response, ‘ _I’m usually too busy killing them instead_ ’ is the unspoken words that Ryan doesn’t hear. 

Shuffling on the spot Ryan rubs the back of his neck with his free-hand awkwardly. “Right… of course, that would make sense being in the middle of the woods and all that” He chuckles almost compulsively as Shane looks at him wordlessly.

Unknown to him, the skin-walker struggles to keep it’s amusement from the stoic mask he keeps up around the smaller man. Ryan is endearing in a way he didn’t expect the other to be and Shane’s absently glad he didn’t kill the other the moment he laid eyes on him. 

“Shane” 

“Ryan”

The smaller man visibly struggles to find words. “The voices… how do you-”

“I can’t tell you anything about that, Ryan” Shane cuts into his words but there’s something soft about the way the Skin-walker says it despite the harsh edge to his tone. “No matter how much you’ve intrigued me” 

Ryan’s expression twists and gone is the excitement of his previous questioning as frustration coming to the forefront as he cast his gaze scathingly towards the Skin-walker. “You’ve caused me so much shit and trauma but you don’t even have the decency to tell me why or how. You’re a real son of a bitch you know that?”

In a blink the calm man from before shifted, amber eyes blazing like a raging inferno as the Skin-walker’s frame seems to tower threateningly before Ryan. “Are you thick?” It snarls, teeth bared as it stares the mortal down. “Or do you forget just _what_ you’re speaking too, _Boy_?” 

For the first time since he’d originally came face-to-face with the Skin-walker, Ryan’s expression is truly terrified. Wide-eyed as he stands paralysed before the creature- for despite the human facade it displays now, the being before him is anything but human. 

“I can kill you, mortal” It hisses and it looks entirely inhuman as it pins him in place with a look. Despite the human features, it’s eyes and sharp teeth reveal the monster that lurks below the surface. “You’d do well to remember that next time you speak before you think” 

Ryan swallows hard, eyes dropping to look at the ground at his feet as he nods mutely. 

The skin-walker’s threatening posture in turn recedes as it exhales, it’s harsh features softening to return to it did before Ryan had provoked it. 

“I’m sorry for loosing my temper… solitude has not graced me with the best people skills” Shane’s expression is faintly sheepish. Then a thoughtful expression overcomes his features, the light snowfall coating his hair which glints in the sunlight. “Come… there is something I wish to show you” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the long wait, the new year was a little hectic on my end :/  
> I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter... until next time!

**Author's Note:**

> This is an idea that came to me randomly one night, i'm aiming to make it more horror themed than anything so i've tagged the work with "graphic depictions of violence" just in case i'm not sure how graphic this work will end up being.
> 
> Hope you enjoy, stay tuned for more.. until next time!


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